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Reviews For: Motorola EX500/600 HT

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

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Review Summary For : Motorola EX500/600 HT
Reviews: 2MSRP: 850-950
Description:
Motorola's new replacement for the Visar. They both ship with 1320mAH Li-Ion packs...
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.motorola.com/cgiss/portables/ex_series.shtml
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0025
KG4HUI Rating: 2004-02-12
High Quality, Durable Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My version is the EX600XLS that has 160 conventional channels and the full DTMF keypad. This radio was designed as a small (4.61" X 1.58" X 2.48", weighing 9.5 ounces) public-safety radio and appears to be a redesign of the HT1250XLS. My model is the VHF version (this is a single-band radio), which covers 136-174MHz. Transmission power levels are 1W and 5W, selectable via front panel and/or memory channel. The UHF models cover 403-470MHz and 450-512MHz with 1W and 4W. The radio supports 12.5kHz channel spacing. Rated transmit audio is 500mW with 3% THD.

The radio comes with a three-year warranty which covers everything but dunking it in water and meets a wide variety of commercial and military specifications, including 42 drops from a height of 48”, thermal shock, vibration, and blowing sand. The radio is rated to operate from –30C to +60 C. This is not a fragile radio that must be coddled.

This radio is NOT front-panel programmable, and programming must be done with Motorola's CPS. This software is not licensed to ordinary consumers, and Motorola dealers must handle programming chores. The radio is extremely flexible, including six programmable buttons for twelve functions, and the memories are separated into ten groups of sixteen channels. The radio functionality covers just about any preference, including setting the clock for 12-hour or 24-hour time, scan hang duration, squelch levels, and hot switching between conventional and trunking operation.

Scanning can be done in any scan list or all scan lists. Nuisance channels can be added or deleted from the scan list from the front panel. There are ten scan lists available, one of which I have left open to be programmed from the front panel. My programming (158 channels consisting of repeaters in Georgia, simplex channels, and NOAA weather channels) took about two weeks for the dealer to do. It could have been done more quickly, but I am a small customer of a shop that has many commercial and government service contracts. As such, my radio was not a high-priority task for the dealer. In addition, my programming request was extremely complicated (frequency, offset, alpha tag, RX PL, TX PL, power level, transmit allowed, scan group, nuisance delete status, channel priority, etc.) and was communicated via e-mail and an Excel spreadsheet.

The LCD display is outstanding for its size and provides for an alpha tag of 14 characters, a RSSI gauge, a battery gauge, and a clock/alarm. Backlight functionality is programmable based on need, and I have one of the buttons programmed as a backlight toggle. I have each channel programmed to display an alpha tag, except for the weather channels that display “WX” and the frequency.

Battery capacity is outstanding, and I usually charge it after two days of use. The battery is a Lithium Ion type. I believe the rated capacity is 7.5V, 1300mAh. The supplied rapid charger senses the battery state (unable to charge, pending charge, charging, 90% charged, and fully charged) and reacts appropriately.

As far as radio performance, this is the reason I bought this radio. This radio just performs, and the transmit audio has been getting raves. The receive audio is very good, and the audio volume can be set high enough so the radio can be heard above just about any ambient noise.

In short, highly recommended.
K6LCS Rating: 2002-03-08
Impress Your Friends Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The Motorola EX600 is a great single-band commercial HT...more features than any of us need for amateur work, of course. But it is Motorola's latest in their Professional Radio line.

128 channels...Li-Ion pack...quick charger...DTMF keypad - all standard with the HT. As it is a commercial HT, programming is performed with Motorola's RSS software.

Clint Bradford, KAF3359 / K6LCS